It's Only Rock'n Roll
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Show start : 11:50pm Show end : 02:00am
Highlights for me were "Out of Control," which may have been played in recent years, but I'm too old to remember. Most of the kids in the crowd probably did not know it - or many of the songs, for that matter - but Mick won them over with his emotional performance, akin to the 101% he gave to "Worried About You" three nights ago. He actually looked winded at the end.
Bruce Springsteen's guest shot on "Tumbling Dice" was a good photo op, if nothing else. All I could focus on was a) whether he had undergone hair surgery; and b) whether his tight jeans affect his sperm count. His singing was horrendously overblown, as usual, forcing Mick to try and keep up with him. The whole thing sounded like an American Idol face-off. At one point, Bruce looked to Keith for a nod of approval, which was not forthcoming. Ouch!
Keith was much better on "Can't Be Seen," which he introduced by saying, "Here we go into Nowhereland," likely a reference to his forgetful rendition in Oslo. Still, I could sense that the song was thisclose to derailing. Which almost seemed to happen to "You Can't Always Get What You Want." The tempo was too fast for Mick.
The real stars were the crowd, tens of thousands of beautiful, young Portuguese - most sporting an amazing array of contemporary and vintage Stones t-shirts. As stated above, I'm not sure they were completely familiar with all the songs - though once again "Doom and Gloom" seemed to get more recognition than it deserved. The only problem was that the kids came equipped with smartphones, and it was pretty annoying having my view obstructed by a forest of illuminated screens for the first few songs. A few enterprising ones had cameras mounted on poles. Which may turn out to be a sad trend.
The audience reaction might have been more lively if the show had taken place at a decent hour. Either start the whole thing early, or bump Gary Clark Jr. He is a great guest, but boring otherwise.
I was inside the festival area may be half an hour before Gary Clarke Jr hit the stage. Never been that late inside for a show. Gary Clarke Jr was on by 10:10pm and he performed until 11:20pm. I was so tired I could fall asleep any place. Walking around in the area and making "pretend tasks" like checking out the merchandise sales, queues for the cash machines and all other crowd and festival activities. This made the two hours go by fast. By 11:40pm I had found a nice spot in the slope on the side, far far away from the stage, but I had a great view of all of the stage. People moving in and out constantly did not bother me anymore. And 5-10 minutes later the stage lights went out, the red colors appeared, the drums rolled, and the crowd got noisy. And... surprise surprise... I got wide awake.
The sound was crisp and clear, strong and perfect in my spot. Jumping Jack Flash and It's Only Rock'n Roll sounded great. People around me smiled, danced and had a great time. They were of all ages. And for a change I could see the Stones with the crowd, not just up front with most of the crowd behind me. A great experience, even if it will not be a habit. I was surprised by how great the sound and screen was all through the show. Even if the band was in a distance, I watched them direct rather than on the screen, because I wanted to see everybody at all times.
Tumbling Dice with Bruce Springsteen! Fun for a change, and Bruce walked and danced and was singing and moving onto the extra B-stage with Mick like he had been doing this many many times. Camera moment for the fans!
The massive festival area was large still comfortable. It was very different from Hockenheim, Prague and those other places I have seen the show with a crowd of 100,000 or so people. Here it was scattered around, sort of hillside, and during the entire show people were flying over the crowd through csome sort of flying cable service. Some sort of Rock in Rio special. Even two or three airplanes flew low over the crowd during the show, as the airport is just nearby.
This was a great show that worked from start to finish, because everybody around me was in a great mood, and because the band also seemed to enjoy themselves. I could easily walked into the crowd and made my way to the front, but I liked my spot, and also I had my post-show exit in mind. Every time I have seen the Stones in Portugal, i.e. Coimbra, Porto, Lisbon, it has been magic moments because of the warm connection between the fans and the band, and this happened tonight as well. I rushed out of the show at 2am with a smile, walking fast to my nearby hotel in 35 minutes, and was in bed by 3am. Obrigado Portugal! Obrigado Stones!
By the third song -Live With Me- I got the feeling we were into a Let It Bleed's night. And so we were, as they played 7 out of the 9 songs from that great álbum. And the way they played... MR went for about 14' with a great duel between the 2 Micks, one with the harp and the other with a guitar... gee, seeing is believing... and then, Jagger, apart from being absolutely frantic, he seemed like a man in a mission -sometimes a little harsh and even pushy with the others, going like, "now, Keith Richards play the guitar"; or screaming at Darryl,"STOP the bass"- only relaxing when adressing the audience -many times in portuguese (even made a joke about Ronnie's "sapatos", the portuguese word for shoes- and when Springsteen came on stage to a duet in TD -this time Bruce didn't ruin the song-.
Clark Jr. that played before the boys, came on stage for a fiery Respectable. Gee, Mick spent the whole show singing damn loud, and again in this song, one could feel the tension in the man, as he once in the refrain, instead of singing, "get out of my life, go take my wife, don't came back", sang, "get out of my life, go f**k my wife, don't came back". Funny enough, or a mere coincidence, Respectable and Wild Horses, are songs about the end of romantic relationships (maybe is the psychiatrist MD that I am, noticing what doesn't mean nothing at all).
Sympathy was a treat, and again the loud loud way Mick's singing, like I didn't hear since the 1976 tour! And then Out Of Control... did I already used the word frantic?... Well here he went so wild... unbelievable. In the end of Satisfaction, tell ya, I was TOTALLY satisfied, and my daughter Joana -that had never had the chance to see 'em live- she was in a awe, and not thinking anymore of the presentation she had to do 6 hours later in the University of Lisbon Medical School -yeah the show was 2h20' long, and finished at 2 10 a.m.-. Thank you boys. I'm sure we'll meet again. And a final word to Bjornulf Vik, for the dedication and keeping this fantastic fan club IORR.
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